BOUND FOR GLORY

Wing Ollie Sleightholme pinpoints the moment that showed England’s team spirit in their surprise win over France and tells Harry Latham-Coyle about his tete-a-tete with Penaud

- Harry Latham-Coyle

Speaking after a long-awaited England win on Saturday night, Steve Borthwick sought to highlight the spirit he believes he has instilled in his team even amid a run of near misses. "What really struck me today was how hard the England players were running back,” the head coach explained. “We said in the week that we would have to – because they’re such a good team – but they ran back and tried to save tries. That’s a real sign of team development.”

There was one moment in particular that summed that ethos up. The match had barely begun again after the interval when Marcus Smith found himself pickpocketed on the touchline, Louis Bielle-Biarrey spinning out of the contact with a pilfered pill and making tracks for home. The France wing is properly rapid; for a moment, all English hope appeared lost as he scurried away.

But suddenly, in a flash of English white, his opposite number appeared in his path. Few are capable of matching the top speed of the French flyer, but Ollie Sleightholme has him just about covered in the sprinting stakes.

“I knew it was a turnover and I had to bust my nuts to get there, to force something,” Sleightholme recalls having clocked a top speed of 9.2m/s in haring back. “Whether that was a tackle or an offload, I just had to make it so that he couldn't score in the corner.”

The chase paid off. Bielle-Biarrey’s infield toss hit the hands of France hooker Peato Mauvaka and then the deck. It was one of 27 handling errors on the day from the visiting side; one of three guilt-edged chances they passed up with the line in sight. It was a peculiar display of